College Halls Moves to Kissam

Construction is set to begin on the next phase of the university’s residential college system, College Halls at Vanderbilt. The university will break ground in May 2012 on Kissam College Halls, two colleges that will each house about 330 upperclass students—a mixture of sophomores, juniors and seniors—and be led by faculty directors-in-residence. Each college also will be divided into two halls led by a graduate fellow.

The six existing buildings that currently make up Kissam Quadrangle, located near the intersection of West End and 21st avenues, will be demolished to make way for the two new colleges, which will be connected by a shared facility providing gathering space, “grab-and-go” dining options, a classroom, offices and meeting rooms. Like other recent Vanderbilt building projects, the halls will be designed with an emphasis on environmentally friendly construction and sustainability.

Plans call for completion of the $115 million project in fall 2014. Funding will be provided entirely through philanthropy and internal resources.

The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, the first phase of College Halls, was opened in 2008 and brings together all first-year students in 10 houses, each guided by a faculty head of house—a member of the university faculty who lives among the students and serves as a mentor to them.

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Donald Kraft says:

I wonder how many “survivors” of the original Kissam Hall are left beside me. I lived there in the academic year 1945-46.